He's Always Liked the Color Pink
by wordsofawitheringwriter
Summary: AU; no magic. Nalu. He may not be a dragon slayer, but young Natsu discovers he still has a fire burning in his belly.


**Here's a new NaLu for you guys! Hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it(:**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing (shocker)**

* * *

His Eragon lunch box bounces against his scraped knees with every bouncing step as he leaves a misty-eyed Igneel at the cross walk, hurrying ahead to catch up to two familiar figures.

"Erza!" He shouts, waving frantically when the redhead looks over her shoulder. "Gray! Wait up!"

The dark haired boy snickers when his friend catches up to them.

"Already almost tardy on the first day? You're such a slowpoke!"

"Shut up! No I'm not!" Natsu pouts, punching the smirking second grader in the shoulder.

Erza, rolling her eyes, grabs the collars of both boys and steps between the two before a fight can transpire. She's been friends with Gray ever since she started school halfway through kindergarten, before Natsu had joined them at the start of first. However, she already knew them both well enough to put a stop to their antics.

"Knock it off guys," she frowns, scratching at the patch over her right eye. She doesn't know why she allowed the two to talk her into an exploration through the woods, because only she would end up with poison ivy in her eye. "Do you want Miss Mira to get mad at you on the first day for fighting?"

Both boys visually gulp at the thought of their usually cheerful teacher when she gets upset. Not a pretty sight.

"I heard from her kids last year that she can shoot lightening from her ears!" Natsu exclaims, to which Gray face palms.

"No, stupid. No one can shoot lightening from their _ears_."

Erza almost compliments Gray on his logical solution, before he follows up his statement with: "She shoots lightening from her eyes."

"Whatever," the redhead groans, pushing the two forward on the sidewalk in the direction of the front doors.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" The boys ask in unison, before turning and glaring at the other.

"Stop copying me!" They exclaim, yet again, in unison.

"Why did I make friends with dumb boys?" Erza's shoulder slump forward as the two continue bickering.

Miss Mira doesn't even bat an eye when the trio enter the room, both boys swatting at each other while being drug by their collars behind the redhead.

The first day of second grade was going pretty well, in Natsu's opinion.

Aside from the teacher placing Erza's assigned seat beside his in hopes it would keep him focused (he had scoffed at the time, fat chance) all in all, pretty smooth sailing. They get snack time right before recess, so the pink haired boy can't really complain.

His face was currently scrunched up and his tongue was poking out slightly in concentration as he tried his best to color inside the lines of his Puff the Magic Dragon coloring sheet. Erza had picked some dumb knight one, and had nearly chopped his arm off with her safety scissors when he tried to take her blue crayon she was using for the knight's hair.

Weirdo.

But, though the picture in front of him was a dire matter, his eyes kept wandering, drifting up and across the classroom. As he wiped at the graham cracker crumbs left over on his cheeks, he cocked his head at the new girl who had been placed beside Gray. Her hair was so blonde that Natsu was almost jealous that it wasn't the color of a crayon, because that would make some awesome looking fire.

The young boy almost spilled his apple juice when she looked over at him, turning those huge doe eyes on the pink-haired boy. Her cheeks were pretty big, he noted. Kinda like a chipmunk, or a greedy squirrel.

He blushed, feeling a bit self-conscious when he noticed that her dress was the same shade of pink as his hair. Mr. Elfman had told him he pulled it off, and that it could be a manly color too, but he still felt a little embarrassed by it sometimes.

He noticed that her hair, pulled back into two pigtails, were held with two big bows that matched her dress.

Maybe pink wasn't such a bad color.

He was startled, almost scared, when it felt like something was suddenly lit in the pit of his stomach.

As he sat there, nearly outright staring at her from across the classroom, he felt an innocent flickering of a flame in his second-grade belly.

He frowned, eyebrows scrunching. He wasn't sure if he liked the feeling.

Was he getting sick?

However, the flame was soon blown out and all but forgotten at the sound of Miss Mira coming over to compliment him on his Puff picture.

"This is great, Natsu!" She complimented, to which the young boy replied with a beaming smile.

"But," she cocked her head to the side, "why is he wearing a scarf?"

* * *

The pink-haired tween wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck as he and his friends, and Gray, hurried along the sidewalk in the falling snow.

"Come on, guys!" Lucy, who had transferred to the trio's school on the first day of second grade, tried to hurry the three along. She had fit in from the very start, when Gray had officially introduced her to them at recess. The little blonde-haired girl was kinda shy at first, but they soon found out that she was their missing piece.

Natsu watched now when she turned to face them, her cheeks tinted pink from the cold and her eyes nearly glistening from the chill. Her smile was so wide though, that despite the fact she had them out in the frigid snow, they couldn't help but return it. "Where are we going, Lucy?" Erza inquired, seeming fine with the temperature, though Natsu saw right through her as she clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. He groaned and asked for the tenth time, tucking his chapped hands farther into his pockets. "Is it much farther?"

"I don't know why you're complaining," Erza smirked over at her friend, and she held her mitten-clad thumb over her shoulder. "Gray seems to be handling the cold just fine."

Natsu's eyes widened at the same time Lucy shouted, "Gray! Where did your coat go?"

"His coat?" Natsu exclaimed, pointing to the unfazed boy. "What about his shirt?"

Gray shrugged. "The cold doesn't really faze me."

"You're a moron." The pink-haired boy deadpanned.

"Oh yeah, wanna say that to my face?"

"I think I just did."

Before the two could really go at it, they were caught off guard by freezing ice coming into contact with their faces. Gray merely wiped the rest of the snowball from his face while Natsu wailed and hurriedly wiped at his face with his scarf.

"What the hell, Lucy?" He ignored Erza smacking him upside the head for cursing.

The blonde was giggling, already bending down to pick up more snow. She eyed him specifically as she packed it carefully and brought her arm back.

"Luce?" Natsu's eyes widened significantly. Scampering away, he managed to dodge it, but only just.

Though when he straightened, he was bombarded by both Gray and Erza who stuffed the snow down his jacket.

Thus, a war had began.

"I don't know how much longer we can hold up." Natsu panted from behind his and Lucy's makeshift fort. After the first few free-for-all moments at the beginning, teams were quickly formed and Natsu and Lucy had joined together.

"Partners?" The boy had questioned, not waiting for a response as he gripped her hand and dragged her away out of the other's range (which was a considerable distance) so that they could regroup.

To his surprise, she gave him a warm feeling inside despite the cold, almost like the slow, flickering flames of a hearth fire. At first it had been like a weird sense of déjà vu, but he couldn't figure out why. He was surprised to find that he didn't mind the feeling…

"I don't know about you," he turned his head when Lucy suddenly spoke, their backs pressed tightly against the wall of their crumbling base. "But I'm beat, and some hot chocolate sounds great right now." She smiles brightly up at him, or at least she hopes she is. Her lips are so numb from the cold she doesn't really want to think about her facial expression at the moment.

The idea of quitting doesn't sit right with Natsu, especially when the two he's forfeiting against are Erza and that jerk, Gray. But, as he notices how hard the petite blonde is shivering and the alarming shade of blue her lips are turning, neither does the thought of letting one of his best friends freeze to death.

He sighs, before giving her a wide grin. "Hot chocolate sounds awesome." The pink-haired boy stands, offering a gloved hand to help her up. She takes it gratefully, surprised when she could feel his (miraculously still warm) body heat through the thin material.

"How are you so warm?" She asks, cocking her head. Natsu laughs when her too-big toboggan that she borrowed from Erza slid down over her eyes at the motion.

"Dunno," he shrugs, slipping the hat back into place. "Igneel always jokes that I take being warm-blooded to a whole new level."

"I'll say," the blonde laughs, but wraps both hands over top his in hopes of getting feeling back in her fingers.

The flame flickers once more.

Uneasy, Natsu cups one of his hands around his mouth when he notices the other two are still nowhere in sight.

"We give!" He shouts. "We're waving the stripper's tighty whities on a stick as our surrender!"

"I didn't throw my underwear!" Came a shout from the tree line, before a loud 'thunk' could be heard followed by Gray's groans.

"What do we get as a reward?" Erza demanded, still keeping out of sight incase it was a trick.

Lucy smiled. "Some hot chocolate and a slice of strawberry cake is waiting for you back at my house!"

"We accept your terms!" The redhead tripped over her words as she rushed from the woods, dragging a dazed, half naked Gray in tow.

Natsu made up for the forfeit by beating the other boy in a foot race to Lucy's, but upon entering the home after stomping their boots and hanging their coats, the pink haired boy stopped at the sight of the lit hearth in the living room.

He watched as the flames flickered and snapped around the chopped wood. The boy was mesmerized. It felt oddly familiar.

* * *

The wooden bench pinches his thighs and pricks his shorts, and the heat is sweltering. He figures it is, at least, because that's what the others keep groaning about. The heat never really others him.

He has to admit though; the whole ordeal was pretty bullshit. Natsu swats at a fly that keeps buzzing around his head as Lucy shrieks when a bee lands on her nose.

Erza laughs, flicking the striped insect away while Lucy turns beet red, her hands coming up to cover her nose.

Natsu, his head resting on his hand, lazily casts his eyes over the old elementary school playground. It'd been years since they'd moved on from elementary school, and he was pretty sure the heat had shrunk the equipment, because he remembered this place being _way_ bigger when he was younger.

"I don't see the need for being here." Gray grumbles, and Natsu assumes he enjoys the excuse of the heat to walk around shirtless. "Why the hell did Miss Mira ask us to come here anyway? We graduate from high school this week! What the hell does our second grade teacher want us for?"

"Ah, Gray, it isn't so bad." Lucy grins, wiping at her forehead with the back of her hand. "I'm sure she's just trying to do something nice for us. Besides," she clasps Erza'a hand and reaches across the table for a startled Natsu's. "Think about it, one more week and we'll be on our way to college." The blonde gets a dreamy look on her face, and Natsu finds it kinda hard to look away.

"We're growing up, guys." Lucy hums softly, "It feels like just yesterday when big bully Gray introduced me to the two of you in front of the swings."

The raven-headed boy raises a brow, amused. "'Big bully Gray'?"

"When Miss Mira sat us together, the first thing you said to me was you didn't like the color of my bows." She laughs, releasing the hold on her friends' hands, slipping them from her grasp. Natsu resists the urge to take it back. "Those pink bows were my favorite!"

The shirtless boy smirks, "Yeah, well, pink is a stupid color. Blue would have been a lot cooler."

"Pink is not a stupid color!" Natsu argues, nostrils flaring while slamming both hands on the tabletop.

"You look like you're wearing cotton candy on your head!"

"_What would you know about wearing anything_?"

Erza, resisting the urge to slam both of their heads through the top of the picnic table, turns to Lucy.

"Not much has changed over the years, has it?"

"Uh, Erza, your eye is twitching again."

"Kids!"

Four heads and eight eyes turn to the arrival of the new voice. Miss Mira stood before them all in her favorite pink dress, miraculously not looking a day older than the last time the kids had seen her. In her arms she held a cardboard box, which she sat on the end of the bench closest to Lucy.

"Miss Mira!" Lucy smiles, standing to hug her favorite person from elementary school. Natsu and Gray nearly trip over the other while trying to be next in line.

"Back of the line, Pyro!"

"She always liked me more!"

Gray snorted, shoving the pink-haired boy away. "Fat chance."

The woman cocked her head, her hands folded in front of her while the girls stood on either side of her.

"Besides their looks, you boys haven't really changed at all, have you?"

Erza snorts, crossing her arms.

"Still just as childish as they were ten years ago."

Miss Mira's hand flutters to her chest. "My, it's really been that long…" She grins, "I must really be getting up there in age, then."

Both girls eye each other, dubious.

"Not that we aren't thrilled to see you again," Natsu wipes at the dirt on his shorts as he stands up from the ground. "But why did you ask us to come here?" He comes to stand behind the girls, his arm falling down onto Lucy's shoulder as if reflex.

Mira sees this, notices how natural the action seems to be for both of them, and smiles to herself. She clears her throat quickly, trying to refrain from getting giddy.

She couldn't help it; it just always feels so good to be right.

The older woman motions to behind the group, pointing to the forgotten box.

"You might want to open that."

Gray, the closest, cautiously lifts a flap as if expecting something to come flying out. Peering carefully with one eye, he gasps, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"No _way_!"

"What?" Natsu demands, "What is it?" He slides his hands down Lucy's shoulder and clasps his best friend's hand, dragging her over to Gray and Erza, who had appeared at the black-haired boy's side the moment the box had been fully opened.

"Oh my," Lucy lifts a hand to her mouth before reaching slowly into the box and closing her hand around the faded, pastel pink envelope.

Natsu cocks his head when Erza hands him his, flipping the closed envelope over a few times.

He swallows hard when he notices Lucy hasn't pulled her hand away yet, but instead grips his tighter.

"You actually saved the letters that we wrote to ourselves?" Even Erza can't keep back the nostalgic euphoria from spreading over her, smiling fondly at the thought of her seven year old self working so hard on a letter she knew her future self would one day read.

"Of course I did." The woman has to blink repeatedly a few times to keep the tears at bay. She never had children of her own, and this bunch in front of her had been some of her first.

Some of her dearest.

She clears her throat. "I mailed everyone else's, but I couldn't bring myself to do that to you four. I know it isn't right to play favorites, but," Mira laughs, "You all never did let me have a boring day."

Lucy doesn't try as hard to stop her tears as the sudden rush of emotion begins to overwhelm her, as she was suddenly overtaken with the realization she and her best friends were truly growing up, as the evidence said so boldly in her hand.

She hides her face in Natsu shoulder, causing the boy's cheeks to tinge pink, but he doesn't really mind.

He's always liked the color.

He chuckles, resting his cheek atop of her head while Erza chases a cackling Gray who had already opened and scanned the contents of his letter.

"Gray! Tell me what you're laughing at!" They could hear her shouting as the boy zigzagged between the swings and hurdled over the jungle gym, laughing the entire time while narrowly evading the approaching redhead.

"No way," he cackles, waving the paper over his head. "You're never reading this thing!"

"Actually, Natsu," the boy turns to his teacher who is pulling something out of her pocket- another folded piece of paper. "There's something else I have for you."

Curiosity pulls Lucy's gaze off of their friends and to her old teacher.

"I've always wondered about this picture of yours." Unfolding the crinkled, yellowing page she tries to smooth out the wrinkles by pressing it against her dress.

Natsu's eyes widen in recognition of the smiling dragon gazing up at him from off of the page.

"Puff!" He cried, laughing and holding his hand out for the page. "I used to love this guy!" He turned it over and let Lucy get a better look at it.

Lucy grins fondly down at the picture, chuckling at the haphazard coloring.

"What I was wondering about it," Mira eyes the two knowingly, "Puff used to be a favorite of yours, yes, but that's why I always thought you would know the song by heart."

Natsu frowns, feeling almost offended that his old obsession was being questioned. Of course he knew the song. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the lyrics go about a dragon and his boy, but," she points to the page held in Lucy's hand. "Your picture included Puff with a little blonde princess drawn in the corner."

Both teenagers blush furiously when they notice the color of the little princess's bows, and Natsu feels a sudden flashback to the first day of second grade… and the first time he had seen-

It's like he's being swallowed by flames. As if his insides are a single large, roaring forest fire that is intent on melting him from the inside out, because he almost _does_ melt when he catches the bashful smile on Lucy's face.

"Actually, when you think about it," Miss Mira smiles fondly, giggling. "It was hardly Puff at all. Your dragon was pink."

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**Please review guys it means a lot 33**


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